By Ron Cohen The Royale is a taut, sometimes harrowing depiction of racism in America circa 1900, which unfortunately still resonates powerfully today. It’s also inventive drama, directed with élan and acted with incandescent fury. As a program note tells us, Marco Ramirez’s play is based on the life of Jack Johnson,…
Reed Birney, Jayne Houdyshell, Cassie Beck, Sarah Steele and Arian Moayed in The Humans. Photos by Joan Marcus by Deirdre Donovan Stephen Karam’s new play, which originated at the Laurel Pels Theater in 2015, has settled in snugly at Broadway’s Helen Hayes. And if you haven’t seen this gem, put it on your must-see list. …
Patrick Noonan, Jordan Ahnquist photos by Carol Rosegg by Judd Hollander Genre-bending hilarity is assured at Shear Madness at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages. Based on the 1963 German play Scherenschnitt by Paul Pörtner, the show is making its very long-awaited New York debut. The play opened in Boston in 1980 – where it continues…
By Michall Jeffers Hey kids, let’s get together and put on a show! This is the spirit of “Disaster!” A large part of the entertainment is that the actors on stage are having so much fun; we get the idea that they’ve known each other and worked together for a long time. Adding to…
by Eugene Paul They’re going to have a bit of a problem over at Southern Comfort. Well, kind of a joyous one. And after all they’ve been through, well, why not: who’s going to get the nomination for best leading actor? That’s always fun. That and best leading actress. Fun, too. …
Paul Schoefler, and cast Photos by John Vecchiolla By Eugene Paul There’s an apocryphal story that in 1960, Dale Wasserman, who wrote his non-musical teleplay “I,Don Quixote”, went to a fortune teller to advise him about allowing director Albert Marre to develop it into a musical for the stage. The fortune…
by Marc Miller This was not your usual cabaret show. The Metropolitan Room website beckoned with just “Jason Graae” listed. That’s inducement enough; Graae is a veteran and expert cabaret performer/Broadway singer-actor/chronicler of the Great American Songbook, with a nimble tenor and a wicked sense of humor. But imagine one’s surprise upon arriving…
Jason Robert Brown, Alfred Uhry, Steve Oney, Julie Burstein Photography by Melanie Einzig / Museum of Jewish Heritage by Rachel Goddard Bringing history to the stage was the theme for the evening and the subject was the Broadway musical Parade, the 1999 Tony Award Winner for Best Book of a Musical and Best…
Sarah Killough and Ellen Adair photos by Colin Shepherd by Eugene Paul New plays, new theatre companies, continue to seek the limelight from one end of the country to the other, nowhere more generously than on New York City’s turf. Its name trailing martially bold Shakespearean allusions, the Happy Few Theatre Company, producers…
Ito Aghayere and Melanie Nicholls-King Photos by Joan Marcus By Michall Jeffers The United States is a nation of immigrants. The tug-of-war between assimilating and keeping tradition alive is indeed Familiar to many Americans. And what better way could this conflict come to a head than planning a wedding. Marvelous Chinyaramwira (Tamara Tunie) and her…